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Lions pain serving as 'fuel': Four Scotland talking points ahead of USA
By Bryn Palmer
Gregor Townsend may have been limited in his choices for the first of Scotland’s four Tests in the Quilter Nations Series against USA on Saturday, with none of his England or France-based players available given the match is outside the official Test window.
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As well as missing stars like Finn Russell and Blair Kinghorn, he has also held back home-based Sione Tuipulotu, Kyle Steyn, Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman, Grant Gilchrist and Gregor Brown for the bigger Tests to come against New Zealand and Argentina.
The looming prospect of the All Blacks was clearly a factor in selection, with perhaps only a third of Saturday’s side in with a realistic chance of retaining those jerseys next week, but there was still much to discuss about Townsend’s first 23 of the season.
Zander Fagerson’s first game for six months could be v NZ
The likelihood of Scotland’s most capped prop, and their first-choice openside flanker, playing some part in next week’s Test against New Zealand remains in the balance.
Zander Fagerson, who has not played since April after calf and then knee issues, trained with the squad on Tuesday and Wednesday, taking “a full part” in the latter session.
Should he come through further training planned for Friday and Saturday, there is every chance the 75-cap tighthead could be pitched straight back into action against the All Blacks despite spending more than six months on the sidelines.
Next-in-line Elliott Millar Mills (three starts in nine caps) was also nursing a calf issue this week, while Will Hurd (two starts in nine), Darcy Rae (who starts his first Test – his third cap – on Saturday) and Murphy Walker (five caps but still in the early stages of another comeback), are the other options at No.3.
Rory Darge, meanwhile, has yet to return to full training after damaging knee ligaments in Glasgow’s URC opener five weeks ago, even if he “really tested himself this week and came through well”, Townsend said.
While Darge looks an outside bet to be involved, Townsend is not ruling the flanker out just yet. “No decision has been made. It would be great if he gets through this week and whether it’s tomorrow’s session or on Saturday, he shows that he’s going to be cleared for full training next week. That would have to be the case for him to be picked.
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“We just have to decide whether we feel it’s right for him to start, to be on the bench or to not be involved. He’s comfortable with that, but he’ll do all he can to be available.”
Van der Merwe will use Lions disappointment as ‘fuel’
Wing Duhan van der Merwe will win his 50th cap on Saturday, seeking to add to his 32 tries from the previous 49 since his debut against Georgia five years ago, which he marked with a try.
Townsend revealed the South Africa-born giant, now his adopted country’s top try-scorer, was “a little bit worried” when he first came into the squad “because he tended to get in fights with Glasgow players whenever he played Glasgow”, although that rivalry soon abated when it swiftly became clear what Van der Merwe could offer.
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“Then he became best mates with everyone, so it’s a real credit to him,” Townsend said. “I think players qualifying on residency is a big thing, coming into a group where there’s other players that dreamt about playing for Scotland since they were four or five years old. But he’s won the respect of the group by who he is as a person, and also how hard he’s worked.
“I wouldn’t have thought back then that he would be scoring tries like he has, like the one at Twickenham [a sensational 60m solo effort], and others. So he’s surpassed our expectations and continued to grow as a player.”
Despite emerging from the Lions tour of Australia as the squad’s top try-scorer with five, Van der Merwe never really challenged for a Test spot, having started all three in South Africa four years ago.
Townsend believes the 30-year-old will use that disappointment as “fuel”, given the increased competition he faces to retain his status as an automatic starter for Scotland.
“He knows it obviously didn’t go as well as it did four years ago and he knows perhaps the reasons why, but also if he had the opportunity again, how he would do things differently. But I think it’s given him fuel for this season and maybe more for the Six Nations when he comes up against players he was competing against on the Lions tour.
“He’s now got a lot of competition – Kyle Steyn, Kyle Rowe, Arron Reed are playing very well and also did very well on our summer tour. We also had three of the back three [including Kinghorn and Darcy Graham] on the Lions tour. So the competition on the wing is the best I’ve seen it.”
Versatile Smith can be centre of attention
When Stuart Hogg departed the Test scene before the 2023 World Cup, Ollie Smith was vying with Blair Kinghorn to be the former captain’s replacement at full-back.
He started two warm-up games at 15, against Romania in the tournament itself and provided back-three cover off the bench in Scotland’s biggest group games against South Africa and Ireland.
But a ruptured ACL in December that year cost Smith a year of his career before he returned in an Emerging Scotland fixture against Italy’s U23s last December. With Josh McKay established as Glasgow’s first-choice full-back, Smith was deployed at outside centre in his first five club games back, and this season has started games in the 11, 13 and 15 jerseys.
With Huw Jones ruled out of the autumn series and Northampton’s Rory Hutchinson unavailable this week, Townsend has handed Smith, 25, an opportunity to show he can provide an alternative option at 13 in the weeks to come.
“We have talked openly with him for the last two or three years that we see him as a player that can play 13, with his line running, his work rate and his defence – defence is really important in that position,” said the head coach. “He is very good in those areas and his kicking game can help too.
“I suppose it takes away a little bit his counter-attacking ability, but he has been able to show he can run those hard lines you associate with 13s like Huw [Jones]. The good thing is Glasgow see that too. He’s had minutes at 13 this year and he gets an opportunity to put his hand up for next week. With Huw not being available, there’s two or three candidates for next week and he’ll be one of them.”
McDowall the ‘glue’ that holds Glasgow – and Scotland – together
Stafford McDowall has only started seven of his 14 Tests since his debut against Italy in 2023, but he leads Scotland for a fourth time on Saturday, having performed the role on a co-captaincy basis against Canada in the summer of 2024, on his own against Portugal a year ago and again on tour this summer in a non-cap match against NZ Maori.
While Sione Tuipulotu is poised to resume the captaincy against the All Blacks next week, and McDowall is one of three candidates to join him in midfield in the absence of regular partner Huw Jones, Townsend believes the less-heralded of the Glasgow trio plays a vital role for club and country despite flying under the radar.
“I think it’s great that someone can do that and he’s been really consistent when he’s played for us,” he said. I thought his game against the Maori, and especially the Samoa game (in July) was outstanding. He also played really well at the weekend [in Glasgow’s URC win over the Bulls].
“I think the extra leadership which he’s had at Glasgow at times, he thrives on it. He’s such a good team player, whether that’s on the field when he starts, the extra work you see him do at the end of the training session, or if he’s on the bench, or even if he’s not in the 23. He really is a glue at Glasgow and a glue for us. Our training sessions are at such a high level, because he’s leading them.”
McDowall will have two more Warriors, Lions lock Scott Cummings and scrum-half Jamie Dobie, as his vice-captains this weekend, as Townsend looks to grow his next layer of leaders behind Tuipulotu, Darge, Finn Russell and Grant Gilchrist.